Page:Fletcher--Where Highways Cross.djvu/67

 back-end. There's some 'at comes sweeätin' an' fussin' at t' last minute, and there's some 'at's theer haäf-an-hour afore t' time, and he doesn't belong to eyther o' that lot. There's some on ye hings round this chapel-door for an hour afore t' meetin', same as if ye'd nowt to do. Why don't ye go inside and read t' hymns ower?"

With this admonition Mally passed into the chapel, followed by Elisabeth, who had never had such an experience before, and who was consequently interested in all that she heard and saw. She looked round her with curious eyes after they had taken their seats. She found herself in a square box, painted in a dull drab colour, and furnished with a hard, uncushioned seat, on which it was impossible to do otherwise than sit erect. Behind her rose four more lines of similar enclosures, with a gangway in the middle; before her lay the floor of the chapel, furnished with long, unbacked benches. Facing benches and pews stood the pulpit, a square box, approached by